Yes, and Luxembourg could rule the world today if it possessed Star Trek-type technology.
Britain dominated China (with 10X the population) because it had a few gunboots - and because Chinese society was in cultural decline. Those days are gone. The technological disparities are not as great as they once were. The world has grown smaller. Youths in remote African villages that have only recently emerged from the Stone Age have iPhones and can chat with European hipsters and Portland leftists about the latest episodes of their favorite online shows.
Today, demography is destiny.
Demography is upstream from culture which is upstream from politics which is upstream from "boots on the ground."
Regards,
You make two interesting hyperbolic points:
1) Yes, and Luxembourg could rule the world today if it possessed Star Trek-type technology.
2) Today, demography is destiny. Demography is upstream from culture which is upstream from politics which is upstream from “boots on the ground.”
You seem to ignore your first point when making the 2nd point. Countries have come to dominate other countries over the Columbian Exchange and even before that, by way of having superior technology. The Vikings landed on America but got kicked out by the Little Ice Age and hostile locals, even though the Vikings had faster ships. 500 years later, Europeans with fast, big ships arrived again, but this time they had gunpowder and blew the frack out of stone age tribes all across the Americas and even in Asia & Africa.
Guns were the Star Trek level technical dominance for 500 years, and now that every country has guns, the next level is stealth, cheap Precision Guided Munitions, and Nukes.
So to finish up your point number 2, Demography is upstream from culture which is upstream from politics which is upstream from “boots on the ground” which is upstream from superior technology.
By demographics do you mean the number of people purely?
Or are you including the quality, education and productivity of the people in your equation?